


Keep Me From Falling Apart

by Kekane



Category: starker - Fandom
Genre: Awkward Peter Parker, Cross-Posted on Wattpad, F/M, He doesn't cheat!!, Hurt Tony, I can't think of anymore tags, M/M, Pepper wanted a way out from the start, They are both single eventually
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-18 04:35:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28737363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kekane/pseuds/Kekane
Summary: After many months of their rocky relationship, things between Pepper Pots and Tony Stark end without anyone knowing the reason. And just when Stark thinks he can't take it anymore, Peter is there to help him.But will he really keep Tony from falling apart?
Relationships: Happy Hogan/May Parker (Spider-Man), Pepper Potts & Tony Stark, Peter Parker/Tony Stark
Comments: 7
Kudos: 30





	1. Chapter 1

"Pepper! Pepper, come on please." Tony begs. He never begs.

"Don't talk to me right now, Stark." She says, her face red with anger. She's moving through the house in a hurry, grabbing a duffel bag and an extra suitcase. Stuffing all of her belongings into them.

"I'm leaving." She says. Her breathing is off. She rushes to the closet and dumps all of her clothes into the suitcase that's sitting on their bed. Tony's bed now. Tony moves in front of her, blocking her from getting any more of her clothes from the closet. She pushes him away from her, almost like his skin burns her.  
"Stark, get your filthy self away from me. Right. Now." She utters. Her voice is shallow, with no emotion detectable. She's serious. Dead serious.

"Can we at least talk this through, please, Pepper?" Tony begs once more but to no avail. His words seem to fall on deaf ears. He looks at her with sorrow, regret, and utter desperation. "Talk? Yeah, let's talk!" Pepper shouts, flailing her arms in the air. "Let's talk about how you decided to cheat on me, Stark!" Tony goes silent. She's boiling with rage.

"Let's talk about how you lied to me, went behind my back, and treated me like a fool! For what? Just to sleep with some man?" She spits, her words laced with venom. "You disgust me." She scoffs. She looks straight into Tony's tear-filled eyes. "I didn't cheat, Pepper. And you know that!" He sniffles, raking his hand through his hair. "You know me, Pepper." He pleads.

The room goes silent. None of them making a sound as they both stare into each others' eyes. This whole situation is a mess. The night wasn't supposed to end like this. Tonight was supposed to be perfect. Tonight was supposed to be the night, Tony thinks. Nothing ever goes perfectly. "No." Pepper whispers, a tear runs down her cheek before she can wipe any trace of it away. "I knew Tony Stark. I loved Tony Stark." Her voice starts to tremble and her stare becomes a hard glare.

"But the Tony Stark I knew, the man I loved, wouldn't do this to me." She says as she walks past him to retrieve more of her clothes from the closet.  
Tony just stands there, stunned. He turns around and looks at Pepper. She still has his shirt on. It comes up to her mid-thigh and is a little big on the shoulders. But she fits well in it. Well, not anymore. She rips it from her body and tosses it to the ground, not caring if her bare body is on display.

Tony sits on the bed, his face in his hands. He takes many deep breaths before looking around the room. Clothes scattered everywhere, candles lit, hell, it even smelt like sex in there. But he just had to fuck it up. He just had to say something stupid in the middle of a perfect moment."You've done it now, Stark." He says to himself. He leans over the bed to blow out the few remaining candles. They were starting to piss him off. He picks up all the discarded clothing and folds them on the bed.

His eyes dart towards the closet again. She's finished dressing and packing both the duffel bag and suitcase. Some of her clothes are neatly folded on the floor.  
"Why is your winter wardrobe out as well?" Tony asks. Shock and disbelief draining the colour from his face. He walks into the large closet and looks at the empty racks, hangers, and shelves."What do you mean 'Why'? Isn't it obvious, Tony?" She bites. Pushing past him, she goes into the bedroom again and calls herself a cab.

"You can't be serious, Pepper. I thought we were just taking a break." He argues. Tony reaches for the phone, but Pepper doesn't let him take it. "You only need a few days to cool off. Don't you?" He pleads. She laughs, but it's bitter. So bitter even Tony can taste it on his tongue. "I think you've misunderstood." She says as she gets closer to him. "I'm not coming back, Tony."

She takes her bags into her hands and goes downstairs where the taxi will be waiting for her. Tony grabs her hand before she can escape through the door. "But we always get up. No matter what knocks us down w-we always find a way to get back up. Why not now? Why can't we do the same now? I-I still love you, Pepper. Why can't we fix things now like we always do?" He stammers. Tears paint his shocked face. 

"You should have thought of how much you loved me before moaning somebody else's name. You have no shame." she spits out, her eyes are ablaze and her hands are trembling. "We're over, Stark. And there's nobody to blame but yourself." She laughs again. "And to think that this was our first night being engaged to each other!" She whispers, slipping the diamond ring off of her finger and pushing it against Tony's chest. 

It's over. It's really over. He thinks to himself.

"I'll ask Happy to deliver the rest of my belonging to the address I'll send him. I want everything that's mine. But you can keep our pictures." She states as she opens the door with all her bags."Oh! Don't follow Happy, I don't want to see you anymore. Don't you think I've been hurt enough?"  
Tony is still silent. He doesn't know what to say if there is anything that he can say in this situation. This is his fault and he has to sit and stay in the mess he's caused for himself.

"Have a nice life, Tony Stark. Goodbye." She huffs. The door closes. It's silent. Lifeless.  
Not only had Pepper Pots left with her belongings, but also the only source of security that Tony felt he needed. The only thing that made him sane.  
She had left with her love for him.

"It's over." He says. 

"She's gone." He repeats this over and over again until he feels like his head is about to split.

He takes one of the wine bottles from the kitchen counter. They hadn't gotten to open it yet. "Guess we celebrated too soon." Tony's phone rings and vibrates non-stop throughout the night, but he just ignores it. "Stop calling, Happy" He sings.

He's drunk. 

He saw no other way to deal with his pain. "I've always been a bachelor. Nothing's gonna change."

Right. Nothing's gonna change.

Right?


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Calm after the storm.

“What? Tony, what are you talking about?” Happy asks. His voice filled with confusion and utter skepticism.

That same morning, he had gotten a text message from Pepper with an address attached to it. It was confusing for him. He didn’t know why she was moving. What was even more confusing was hearing that Tony wasn’t moving with her.

“It’s exactly like I’m telling you, Happy. Send the goddamn clothes to the address she sent you and call for a press conference tomorrow.” Tony says into the earpiece as he sips his coffee in the Living room. “I need everyone there; News reporters, Journalists, the press needs to eat this announcement up like a corndog on a stick.”

“Was that meant to be taken as a dirty joke, or?” Happy sings

“Shut up. I’m not in the mood today.” Tony snaps. “Oh, and what is it that you wanted to say to me so badly that couldn’t wait until I got to the office?” Tony asks before he can forget.

The line goes silent before Happy answers with a soft chuckle. “I had a date with May last night. I don’t think I had time to call you yesterday.” He answers. Tony can practically see the smile he wears just by hearing his voice. “All right then. I’ll see you once you’ve dropped the packages off Delivery Boy.” He says trying to end the conversation. He’s had enough of it already.  
“Wait, Tony. You still haven’t told me what-"

“End call,” Tony says. The line cuts and he’s faced with silence.

The house is empty. Not physically, but emotionally. There is no life to it anymore.

He quickly takes his phone from his pocket and checks it.

"Message Alert" FRIDAY's voice booms through the house. "You have 3 missed calls." Tony sighs. He had a headache and joint pain from sleeping on the floor last night when he blacked out. He didn't have time for this.

"2 Missed calls from Peter Parker." Oh, Tony thought, maybe I do have time for this. "1 Missed call from Samantha Ross." Never mind. Fake news! He didn't have time for this. 

"You have 2 voice messages from both these contacts. Would you like me to play them for you, Mr. Stark?"

“Do it while I'm still sober, will you, Honey,” Tony flatly replied.

After a few seconds FRIDAY's voice came from speakers embedded in the ceiling. "Voice message from Peter. Play or Delete?"

“Play it,” Tony answered.

The whole house was soon filled with deep breaths and then a long sigh. “Mr. Stark, um, ah. I-It’s me, uh, Peter. But of course, you know that.” Peter’s voice seemed a bit shaken and uneasy. Weird the boy was always happy to speak to him. What was wrong now?

He lets out a soft chuckle. “I honestly don’t know why I’m calling at this hour, you’re probably asleep. But...”

There's a long pause and Tony thinks that the voice message has ended, but he continues.

“But, um, I-It’s my birthday tomorrow. Well, I guess I mean today since it’s already midnight. But you know. If you get this message when you wake up or when you don’t have anything better to do. Just a call or a message would be great. But yeah. Have a great day, Mr. Stark. Bye.”

There’s a long pause before Tony clears his throat. “Shit.” He huffs. He almost shed a tear there. He looks at this watch and looks up before cursing himself.  
“I can’t believe I’m doing this right now.” He says to himself.

FRIDAY continues, "Voice message from Samantha. Play or-"

“Delete it!” He shouts, picking up his briefcase and a velvet box from one of the drawers in the Living room. “Bingo.”

“All right, FRI, call Happy!” He shouts once more before stepping into one of his cars. He throws his things on the other seat and puts the velvet box in the glove compartment before driving off.

"Calling Happy..."

The call takes a few seconds to connect before Happy is on the other line. “Tony, I’m still organizing the guys. We’ll be there in ten minutes or fifteen tops.” Happy informs.

“Okay listen to me, Happy. I need you to organize the private jet for me asap. Where it’s headed you ask? Miami! Now, get it done and get it done now! End call.” Tony was speeding, enough to get him five tickets at least.

He stopped his car at the company first to drop off some documents as well as talk to Samantha Ross. His secretary. As he was about to get into his car again, Happy appeared out of nowhere. And he wasn’t sporting a happy grin.

“Did you get it done?” Tony asked, patting his friend on the back.

“Will I ever get a break from your cruelty?” Happy sighed.

“Just answer the damn question, Happy.” Tony tsked.

“Yes, yes. Everything is prepared, you’ll arrive in Miami in the next three hours if you make it to the airport in thirty minutes.” Happy informed.

“Good! Since you have nothing to do, drive me there.” He commands. He grabs his briefcase from the passenger seat and the box from the glove compartment.

“What a pain.” Happy whispers to himself.

“Aww~. You remembered my middle name.”

**  
**

“Damn, and to think we only sent him a Happy Birthday video.” Happy tutted. “You’re really going all out for this kid aren’t you.” Tony was silent. He had never really analyzed his actions until now. He dropped everything for this kid. Everything.

“You think I’m spoiling him too much?” Tony asks. He’s curious about what it looks like to other people. 

“No, I don’t think so. It’s just you’re giving him a bit more attention.” He explained.

Gate 1004. All passengers for Miami please go to Gate 1004 to check their tickets and board your flight.

“Well, that’s me.” Tony huffs. He takes his briefcase from Happy and stuffs the box into his jacket pocket. “I’ll see you before the press conference tomorrow.”

Happy grabs his arm before he can walk away. “Just promise me not to do anything stupid.” He warns, raising his eyebrow. “I know you, Stark. I’ve known you for years.”  
“What are you saying exactly, Happy?” He asks.

Last call for all Miami passengers to report to Gate 1004 to check their tickets and board their flight.

“Go. And think before you act. Remember that your actions don’t affect just you but others as well.” Happy says, pushing Tony towards his gate and waving a cheerful goodbye to him. “I’m starting to think he just wants me to leave and never come back,” Tony whispers to himself.

He shows his ticket at the gate and boards the plane to Miami. “Three hours isn’t a lot.”

Right! Three hours isn’t a lot.

Right?

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know about this but I hope y'all like it.


End file.
